After Covid infections forced the premiere and subsequent performances to be cancelled, Monday 21 December will finally see the opening night of La Scala's new production of Rudolf Nureyev‘s La Bayadère.
When Frederick Ashton succeeded Dame Ninette de Valois as Director of the Royal Ballet in 1963, he asked Nureyev to work on his first choreography: restaging Act III of La Bayadère. Nureyev was dancing the role of Solor in Act III with the Kirov Ballet on tour in Paris, which was shortly before he defected to the West in 1961. However, he didn't stage the full version until the very end of his life when, in 1992, he created the production that, until now, has only been danced by the Paris Opera Ballet. Nureyev died on 6 January 1993 at the age of 54, just three months after the premiere.
Former Paris Opera Ballet étoile, Manuel Legris danced in Nureyev's La Bayadère many times and now, as head of La Scala Ballet, has brought it into the repertoire in Milan. The sumptuous designs in Paris by Ezio Frigerio (sets) and Franca Squarciapino (costumes) have been replaced with new designs by Luisa Spinatelli.
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.
Who will dance with Zakharova as Solor?
Timofej Andrijashenko, who will dance at the preview performance tomorrow and Tuesday’s opening night – he’s also pictured here.
Love your blog but way too many distracting elements – ads, etc – so many that I can barely read your commentary.
Te ads cover your words and also the icons for social media interfere – cannot get them to disappear.
Thank you for the feedback. The ads (so necessary economically!) are positioned automatically by Google. I’ll ask if they can be better distributed or reduced in number. In the version we see it seems OK. We’ll look into it
Is the opening night being telecast ?
Yes. It will be filmed by Rai and broadcast in Italy on 31 December at 9.15 pm on RAI 5, and from 25 December at 8pm on Medici TV. Later it will be shown in cinemas worldwide.